ALL SAINTS
1 NOVEMBER 2020
Those
who read the Book of Revelation often think of it as future oriented. In a sense, that is true. The Book of Revelation points to the Last
Judgment and the realization of the new and eternal Jerusalem in the new
heavens and the new earth. But too many
readers have tried to interpret the Book of Revelation to predict when those
end times will occur. They read the
symbolic numbers and apocalyptic images to fit their personal reading of this
incredibly complex Book. They forget
that the Book of Revelation was written at a time of great persecution to give
hope to faithful disciples. They forget
that Jesus himself says in the Gospels that no one, not even the Son of God,
knows those times.
In today’s
reading from the Book of Revelation, the author shares a vision of a present
reality. His vision reveals the essence
of heaven: the throne of God surrounded
by countless men and women who had been marked with the seal of the Lamb. 144,000 is a symbolic number of the remnant
of the twelve tribes of Israel who acknowledge the Lamb who was slain. Then the author has another vision of a great
multitude, which no one can count.
Wearing white robes and carrying palm branches, they have shared the
victory won by the Lamb who was slain. The
saints already share the blessedness of the Beatitudes in today’s Gospel.
In the
heavenly kingdom, they are truly poor in spirit, because they are completely
detached from material things. They had
not been afraid to mourn, because they had been freed from an addiction to
“feeling good.” They are meek, because
they are not self-centered. They no
longer need to hunger and thirst for righteousness, because they are completely
detached from sin. They know the mercy
of God, detached from revenge. They are
the clean of heart, detached from evil thoughts. They are truly peacemakers, because they are
free from hatred. Many had been
persecuted for their faith on earth. But
they do not care what other people think.
We
celebrate this present reality on this Solemnity of All Saints. We not only honor those who have been
officially canonized by the Church. We
honor all those who are now in the eternal presence of God, many of whom have
touched our lives personally. They
challenge us to see the Beatitudes not as ideals that are impossible to grasp,
but as practical guides to enable us to live holy lives. In art, these saints have their heads
surrounded by haloes. Those haloes
reflect the fact that they have achieved ultimate holiness, ultimate
blessedness. In picturing the essence of
heaven, of being in the absolute presence of God, artists depict God in terms
of a bright fire burning to dispel the darkness of death and sin. That is why the Book of Revelation says that
there is no sun in the new and eternal Jerusalem. The fire of God’s love shines through the
saints in heaven, because they are completely and totally transparent. Nothing separates them from God or from each
other in the Communion of Saints.
The saints
not only challenge us. They also
intercede for us. They pray for us, that
we see the Beatitudes not as ideals impossible to grasp, but as invitations to
detach ourselves from those things that keep us from being transparent, of
being truly holy. Like them, we can continue
to turn more completely to the Lord Jesus, so that we too can become more
transparent, more holy. We too can learn
to detach ourselves from material things, from the addiction of feeling good
all the time, from being self-centered, from being detached from sin, revenge,
evil thoughts, hatred, and worrying about what others think of us. We too can hunger and thirst for
righteousness. They are pulling for us
now, because they want us to join them when the Lord calls us into the
fulfillment of the Kingdom of heaven.
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